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More than 80% of the world’s workforce, some 2.7 billion people, do not spend their days in front of computers, and that has led to a strong disparity when it…
CausaLens gets $45M for no-code technology that introduces cause and effect into AI decision making
One of the most popular applications of artificial intelligence to date has been to use it to predict things, using algorithms trained with historical data to determine a future outcome.…
Jillian C. York didn’t want to be a non-fungible token. A Berlin-based author and activist, York is also the director for International Freedom of Expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.…
Instagram is giving creators more ways to make money with today’s launch of Instagram Subscriptions. The feature, which was spotted hitting the App Store back in November, is now officially…
Six months after its $20 million Series A, payroll connectivity platform Pinwheel just announced that it has nabbed another $50 million in a round led by new investor GGV Capital. …
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Wordle founder Josh Wardle on going viral and what comes next
The internet loves an unlikely success story, and as we approached the new year, one came around the corner to delight us with a simple idea, and a short game to play it out: Wordle, where you guess a five-letter word in six tries, and then laugh and cry with…
Roku is furthering its investment in its Live TV platform with today’s introduction of a new “Live TV Zone” that will roll out to the main, left-side navigation on Roku…
Novo, the startup building a new kind of banking service from the ground up for small and medium businesses, has closed a significant round of funding to take the next…
At CES, Nvidia today put a strong emphasis on its GeForce Now game streaming service, its competitor to the likes of Google’s Stadia (that’s still around, right?), Amazon’s Luna and…
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African tech took center stage in 2021
Two years ago, the African tech ecosystem saw newfound attention from global players that translated to the continent’s best year of receiving venture capital. From varying sources, it is estimated up to $2 billion went into African tech startups in 2019. With high-profile visits from the most famous Jacks (Ma…
India’s Cars24, a used-vehicle sales platform, raises $400M, now at a $3.3B valuation, to double down on growth
With supply chains in the automotive industry continuing to be disrupted due to COVID-19, demand has surged in the used-car market. Today, one of the startups that’s seeing a lot…
If Pair’s announcement is any indication, the direct-to-consumer eyewear market is doing quite well.
Flink, the Berlin-based instant grocery startup, is now valued at $2.85B after raising $750M in a round led by DoorDash
Instant grocery delivery continues to be a very frothy market, but today comes news of a major funding round for one player in it that investors believe will still be…
Niantic’s new Pokémon GO feature incentivizes users to ‘AR scan’ nearby landmarks
Niantic announced a Pokémon GO feature today that will incentivize users to conduct more AR scans of landmarks in their neighborhood. This user-generated data will help Niantic build its “real-world…
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MrBeast’s ‘Real Life Squid Game’ and the price of viral stunts
First, everyone was talking about “Squid Game,” the Korean psychological thriller that became Netflix’s biggest series launch ever, with 142 million viewers. Now, everyone’s talking about YouTuber MrBeast’s recreation of the show’s titular fight-to-the-death, which racked up 142 million views in eight days. (Don’t worry, no one was killed). Jimmy…
A fantasy sports exchange founded by Irish betting veteran Paddy Power is bringing NFT-enabled live trading to rugby fans in a bid to expand globally. American Sports Exchange (ASX Sports),…
Vercel raises $150M Series D as it looks to build an end-to-end front-end development platform
Only a few months ago, Vercel, the company behind the popular Next.js framework for front-end developers, announced a $102 million Series C funding round that took its valuation to $1.1…
Two days ago, Ed Sheeran posted a cryptic Twitter message, hinting at a soon-to-be announced collaboration with Pokémon GO. I’ll be honest: I’m not the biggest Ed Sheeran fan, but…
In-game creation platform Overwolf raises $75M Series D led by Andreessen Horowitz
Overwolf, a platform that enables creators to build, share and monetize items inside games, has raised a $75 million Series D funding round, led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). Previous investors,…
Consolidation to have better economies of scale is one of the biggest themes in the world of e-commerce, and today a player in the world of online retail is announcing…
Apps that let people do virtually what they would have previously had to carry out in person have seen a boom in the last 20 months of pandemic living, and…
Studio behind ‘early access’ crypto game Blankos Block Party banks monster $1.25B valuation from a16z
A16z Crypto has been minting plenty of NFT unicorns this year. In July, they backed NFT marketplace OpenSea at a $1.5 billion valuation. They participated in a September raise for…
Roblox’s three-day Halloween weekend outage benefitted other popular gaming apps, according to new data from mobile intelligence firm Sensor Tower. In a rare, but unfortunately timed outage, Roblox’s gaming platform…
Netflix’s audience of over 209 million subscribers translates into a lot of free marketing impressions and low player acquisition costs, giving it an advantage over small studios and independent devs.
Thrasio, the Amazon aggregator, raises $1B in fresh funding at a valuation of up to $10 billion
One of the big leaders in buying up and scaling third-party merchants selling on Amazon and other marketplace platforms is announcing a major round of funding today as it continues…
Unity launches Unity Gaming Services to simplify development of cross-platform, multiplayer games
Unity, the platform that enables creators to develop 2D and 3D content for mobile phones, tablets, PCs, consoles and augmented and virtual reality devices, launched a beta version of Unity…
Coinbase is readying the launch of an NFT marketplace that will compete with existing major players in the space, like OpenSea, debuting a user waitlist for the desktop product that…
LG Electronics, the Korean tech giant that once was a leading player in mobile phones but is now winding down that business, is making an acquisition that points to its…
As offices come back, ATMO launches air monitoring device claiming to give COVID-risk score
Way back in 2015 we covered the launch of the Atmotube, a small, innovative, portable air quality monitor which went on to receive a number of awards after its CES…
Facebook is getting into fantasy sports and other types of fantasy games. The company this morning announced the launch of Facebook Fantasy Games in the U.S. and Canada on the…
